friday letters – second edition

Last Friday I seemed to be mainly Mrs Grumpy, so this Friday I shall try and redress the balance …

Dear Weekend, It’s very kind of you to be another lovely Bank Holiday weekend, followed by half term week (schools are closed for a week). Hooray!

Dear pile of books beside my bed,  I am hoping to give you some serious attention in the coming week.  I think you are probably feeling very neglected, so I am going to try and put that right.  By the end of next week I would like to have read one of you and started on another.

Dear new cushions, Now that I have finally taken you out of the bags, cut the tags off and put you on the sofas, I am really pleased with you.

Dear Woods, I am very lucky to have you so near to my house and that I can go for lovely walks in you whenever I want.  Yesterday you were looking particularly fine with bluebells carpeting the floor.

Dear new phone, I am very happy with you.  I’ve only had you for ten days and really wish I had taken the plunge and got you sooner.  Your lovely turquoise blue, spotty cover is very pretty and I am very happy with that too.

Not a trace of grumpiness there, I hope.

Have a good Friday everyone!

I didn’t expect to see this in the park

Normally when  I go to the park I see lots of people walking their dogs – so these people walking their alpaca was a bit of a surprise!

travel theme: the four elements

This week Ailsa has asked us to share photos to represent Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.  It’s a bit of a hard one, but here’s my offering -

Earth.  This photo is of north west Crete, taken from the top of a hill looking east over towards the village of Kalyves and the hills beyond.

photo © iusedtobeindecisive

Wind.  We’re in Crete again for this one, in Chania harbour.  It was a windy day and you can see the effects of the harbour wall offering a calm haven from the stormy waters outside.

photo © iusedtobeindecisive

Fire.  This is the fire in the restaurant/cafe beside Loch Katrine in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.  We were glad to sit beside it while we had our coffee – it was a pretty chilly day.

photo © iusedtobeindecisive

Water. A view over Loch Katrine.  I must write a post about Loch Katrine – it’s a very interesting place not least because it provides water for most of Glasgow and the surrounding areas, including the area where I grew up and my mum still lives.

photo © iusedtobeindecisive

Hop over to Where’s My Backpack for more photos on the subject of The Four Elements.

six word saturday – birds

PARAKEET ON BIRD FEEDER – MISSED IT!

Apparently we had a green parakeet on our bird feeders this week – I didn’t hear Mr Decisive when he was calling to me to tell me, so I didn’t see it.

Have a good weekend everyone!

For more Six Word entries go to Show My Face.

Friday letters

Since I started reading blogs a few years ago I’ve seen a few where they have done ‘Friday letters’ and, most recently, I’ve been enjoying reading Bev’s at Confuzzledom.  I thought I would take the plunge and write some myself, because there’s been a few things recently which have annoyed me and this is a good way to get them off my chest! 

Dear Learner Drivers

I know we were all learner drivers at one time, and on the whole I am very patient with you, but why must you travel in packs, and why must you be out on our roads just when I am in a hurry to drive somewhere?  I realise that the area where I live is perfect for you to learn, particularly when it is your first lesson, but if you could time your lessons to be spread out during the whole day, preferably when I don’t need to be using the road too, then I would appreciate it.  Learning to parallel park is surely something you do not need to practise between our cars is it?  Starting to do a three point turn (or turn in the road I think you call it now) just when I am approaching is not endearing you to me very much either, and even if I see one of you in advance and decide to try a different route, then there’s usually another one of you driving slowly along.  Please ask your instructors to consider taking you somewhere else for your lessons – we’ve done our time round here!

Dear Senior Citizens in supermarkets on Fridays

Please learn good supermarket trolley/cart etiquette.  Leaving your trolley in the middle of the aisle whilst you rummage for the nicest pack of bacon, or try to find the best bargain on the ‘reject’ shelf is fine if you are the only one in the shop, but not when there are lots of you.  Perhaps you should think of shopping in a supermarket which has a) a cafe where you can sit and chat with your friends and discuss all your latest aches and pains, or b) much more space in the entrance.

Dear Dog Walkers in the park

Picking up after your dog is very commendable, but it is not enough just to pick up the poo and put it in a little bag – the little bag has to either go home with you or be deposited in one of the many bins situated around the park which are marked for that very use.  Leaving the poo filled bag lying on the path, or the grass, or in the woods is doing nothing to help the situation.

Dear Chris Hadfield

Why did I not know about you before Monday of this week?  Why have you allowed me to miss weeks of entertaining Tweets, photos and videos from the International Space Station?

Just in case anyone else missed Chris Hadfield, here’s his brilliant Space Oddity video.

travel theme: beaches

Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack’s travel theme for this week is Beaches.  Here are a few beaches I have come across on my travels in the last few years.

This is Largs, on the west coast of Scotland.  When I go to visit my mum we sometimes take a trip there and she reminisces about all the happy childhood holidays she spent there.

… a close up of the beach at Dunwich, Suffolk…

A hazy, wild and windy day on the beach in Biarritz, France…

… Clearwater Beach, Florida.

If you’d like to join in and post your own beach photos, visit Where’s My Backpack for details.

a view from the bridge

I was in the park for a walk at the beginning of the week.  It was a nice day, but windy again (just to make absolutely sure that ALL the blossom has been blown of the trees) and a bit chilly.  We (Decisive Daughter was with me) walked across part of a river to get to a small island.  The water was much higher than I remember it ever being in the past and we only just managed to get across without it lapping over the tops of our wellies.  (I know everyone in the UK understands the word ‘wellies’ but what do you call them in other parts of the world?)

Wellies (Wellington Boots)

As we walked onto the island (just a small part of the woods where the river has split and comes back together again about a hundred yards later) with its tangle of trees, we hadn’t gone more than a few steps when a heron flew up in front of us from where it had been hiding in a dip beside the water and I don’t know who got the bigger shock – it, or us!  Then a moment later a muntjac deer darted across just a few yards away from us, and then stood very still, camouflaged in the trees.  I’d heard that they live in the woods, but this is the first time I’ve seen one.  I wasn’t quick enough with my camera though.

Muntjac Deer
photo credit: bbc.co.uk

So, to the title of this post.  I took a picture from the same spot on a bridge as I did back in January.

Here is the photo from yesterday -

Here is the one I took in January -

Spring has definitely sprung!